This is an interactive image of the handwritten declaration asserted the independence of Nu Tirene (New Zealand) under the rule of the ‘United Tribes of New Zealand’.
Also available to download as a jpg file, this resource includes a transcript in English and Māori.
View the 1835 Declaration of Independence here, (Ministry for Culture and Heritage), updated 19-Sep-2014.
In 1831, 13 Ngāpuhi chiefs petitioned King William IV of the United Kingdom to protect them from other powers.
In 1835 northern chiefs signed a Declaration of Independence, asserting their sovereignty over New Zealand. The declaration had been drafted by a British official, prompted in part by rumours that a Frenchman was planning to declare himself the king of New Zealand.
This resource includes a historical context , the Declaration of Independence in English and Māori, a letter from James Busby to the British Under Secretary of State; and an extract of a Despatch from Lord Glenelg to Major-General Sir Richard Bourke.
